September 21st 1974 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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Who's gone martial arts crazy?

The whole country's gone martial arts crazy!

I know that because it's September 21st, 1974 and the Number One slot on the UK singles chart has only gone and been nabbed by none other than Carl Douglas, with his monster smash hit that's proving to be a wow everywhere from K'un Lun to Cleethorpes. That hit is, of course, Kung Fu Fighting.

Who can be surprised by its success? It was, after all, as fast as lightning.

And it was a little bit frightening.

Over on the accompanying album chart, Mike Oldfield was still ensconced in the top spot he'd claimed the week before with his latest LP Hergest Ridge.

Someone probably not as happy as Mike Oldfield was UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson who, this week, unable to secure a majority in the House of Commons, announced there'd be a second general election of the year. This time, to be held on October 10th.

Drama continues and tension mounts, as the Hulk find himself on an alien spaceship with a bunch of random crew mates, the Abomination for a nemesis and an imminent meeting announced with the mysterious captain of the ship. Can things get stranger? I suspect they can.

With John Romita gone off to draw Spider-Man, a brand new artist starts on Daredevil's feature, as Gene Colan pencils it for the first time. And does so just in time to herald the return of the omnipotent Owl.

As far as I can recall, the Owl's kidnapped a judge and intends to put him on trial, with Matt Murdock the unwilling lawyer for the defence, and the villain's own lackeys as a jury.

But we complete the issue with the failure of Maximus the Mad's plan to annihilate all humanity, and him reacting as any reasonable man would by sealing his own people off from the outside world in a giant indestructible dome.

But not in time to prevent the Fantastic Four fleeing back to civilisation - and straight into the arms of another crisis, as a man on a surfboard starts flying towards the Earth, and the streets of New York fill with panic-stricken locals.

The Shocker's back and I believe he announces his return by stealing that pesky, mysterious and ancient tablet from the personal safe of Captain George Stacy.

Needless to say, this guarantees the subsequent intervention of Spider-Man.

But, first, he has to avoid getting into arguments with Gwen and Flash. Which, given his impetuous nature, proves far more difficult than it should be.

Elsewhere, in Iron Man's strip, a brand new super-hero makes his debut, as a circus bowman is inspired to become Hawkeye!

Sadly, for him, his attempts to be a hero quickly go awry. At which point, he displays his versatility by becoming a super-villain, with the prodding and encouragement of the mysterious Black Widow.

Meanwhile, in a realm far above our heads and slightly beyond our imaginations, the naughty Rock Trolls have stolen Thor's hammer, thanks to the assistance of a mysterious but powerful prisoner called Orikal.

With Shang-Chi on sabbatical, the Avengers get their first appearance on the cover of their own mag in 25 issues.

And what a cover it is, as the gang battle an imaginary Hydra.

It's all part of their attempt to rescue the Black Widow from the Reds.

But to do that, they're going to have to overcome both a machine that makes its victims hallucinate and the Red Guardian.

Iron Fist, meanwhile, is still going through his origin. One which includes him having to defeat an android in the Himalayas. How an isolated monastery in the Himalayas got its hands on a android is never, to my knowledge, explained.

And what of Dr Strange?

He's still out to liberate Victoria Bentley from the clutches of mad alien scientist Yandroth.

But to do that, he's first going to have to overcome a massive robot that looks like it was designed by someone who really really likes designing massive robots but hasn't seen a picture of a robot since 1937.